Book Reviews

Book Reviews — July 2020

Originally published July 2020 · pp. 27–46

Stotelmyer persuasively argues that “South Mountain should be considered more catalyst than antecedent” to Antietam. By scoring “a clear operational campaign victory” at South Mountain, McClellan checked the enemy’s momentum and forced Lee to abandon his plans to invade Pennsylvania (90). Now, the very best Lee could do was take up a defensive perch in the hills around Sharpsburg. Stotelmyer finds that McClellan directed a “determined and respectable” pursuit of the enemy after South Mountain (102). In the third essay, the author provides a thorough review of the operational situation McClellan faced as his troops wound their way toward Antietam Creek. Too often, he implies, armchair generals fortify themselves with hindsight and fail to appreciate the vexing contingencies of that fraught moment. “The overriding question facing McClellan,” he writes of the period between South Mountain and Antietam, “was not how to destroy Lee’s army, but how to successfully conclude his campaign against an enemy he believed outnumbered him while occupying a strong defensive position” (131). The influence of politics and partisanship on military events is a thread that runs through all five essays, but the theme is most pronounced in the last two. These essays consider two perennial counterfactuals associated with the Maryland Campaign: McClellan’s alleged failure to commit his reserves at Antietam and his sluggish pursuit of Lee back into Virginia. In both cases, Stotelmyer argues, an ongoing partisan struggle within the Union high command to define the meaning and aims of the war found operational articulation. McClellan emerges here not as a would-be-traitor, but rather as the unfortunate target of duplicitous Radical Republicans. In the final chapter, the author even hints that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton hatched a scheme to deny McClellan’s threadbare troops much-needed supplies after Antietam. The scheme hampered Little Mac’s designs for a new campaign and supplied the pretext for his ouster by President Lincoln in November. Readers will doubtless find some of Stotelmyer’s arguments more convincing than others. The author is at his best when he supplies context and at his weakest when he entertains old conspiracy theories. Still, this clearly written and passionately argued book merits the serious attention of anyone interested in Lee’s fabled first foray north of the Potomac. Its judgments will be debated for decades to come. Brian Matthew Jordan is Assistant Professor of Civil War History at Sam Houston State University and the author of Marching Home, a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in History.

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The Devastation of Leadership Generals Killed At Gettysburg: Battle Summary Included. Edit by Joe Mieczkowski. Illustrations, Photos, Appendix, Index, 2020, 152 pp., Pedia Press, pediapress. com, softcover. $23.90. Reviewed by Joseph Truglio

Unlike most battle books, this one is more a human interest story concerning eleven men whose deaths had a great impact on the war effort of both sides. The first several pages contain an overview of the campaign and battle. This should familiarize the novice reader with the events that take place. Next comes several paragraphs on the battle’s effect inflicted on the armies, nations, etc. This section encompasses about one third of the book. It is well annotated and has a sufficient bibliography for further study. The next section contains a brief history of the battle, the casualties, and short biographies of the principal characters lost. It is presented in chronological order. The information is brief, but succinct and amply annotated. Again, there is a strong bibliography for further study. The final section covers the retreat and a death bed promotion. Overall, there is much to learn here, especially for novice students of the battle. Its format allows students to carry it with them as they travel the battlefield and study events. The documentation presented makes further research an easy task. This book is a unique publication. Although I personally am not a big fan of Wikipedia, this tool may give the growing number of self-publishing authors an easier way to reach their target audience. My only criticisms, and they are minor, are the need for stronger editing and perhaps a lower price. I feel that $25 may be a bit out of reach for younger students. Despite that, I highly recommend you get a copy for your library. Better yet, give a copy to a younger student and send him/ her on a journey of learning more about American history. Joseph Truglio, of Manchester, N.J., is a retired Motion Picture Technician who has a lifelong interest in the Civil War. He is currently President of the Phil Kearny CWRT in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.

Gettysburg Guides’ Book Offers Focused, Thorough Narrative of Peach Orchard Fight Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard: Longstreet, Sickles, and the Bloody Fight for the “Commanding Ground” Along the Emmitsburg Road. By James A. Hessler and Britt C. Isenberg. Maps, photos, notes, index, 381 pp., 2019. Savas Beatie, savasbeatie.com. $34.95. Reviewed by Noah F. Crawford

Road demonstrates that there is still much for even the most avid student of the battle of Gettysburg to learn about that crucial engagement. Licensed Battlefield Guides James A. Hessler and Britt C. Isenberg, both authors of other books on the battle’s second day, provide a page-turning, precise narrative of the fighting in and around Joseph Sherfy’s famous Peach Orchard. More importantly, the authors forward a compelling argument that at Gettysburg “no other single terrain feature can claim such far-reaching impacts as the Peach Orchard.” The majority of the monograph discusses the fighting in the Peach Orchard and the fields immediately to its north and northeast between 3 and 7 p.m. on July 2, 1863. The authors provide a thorough discussion of the bombardment before and during James Longstreet’s assault and principally examine the fight between Union units under Charles Graham and Andrew Humphreys and Confederate brigades under Joseph Kershaw and William Barksdale. The importance of these actions, they argue, is that “the ground gained in and around the Peach Orchard was a lynchpin of Lee’s July 3 plans.” However, Confederate officers misunderstood the “limitations of this position” as an artillery platform, and for all the terrible fighting, “neither side was helped by Sickles’s advance to the Peach Orchard.” The authors’ expertise and familiarity with the battlefield shines through in their writing. Hessler and Isenberg embrace modern identifiers when describing locations of events; for example, they describe the location of an artillery battalion as “5075 yards east of modern West Confederate Avenue.” Such descriptions allow visitors to the battlefield the benefit of situating historic events within the current battlefield geography and what they see around them. The authors zoom in on such a small geographic area and short span of time to focus on recognizable, but oft-overlooked individuals. How often do history buffs hear about the martinet Andrew Humphreys’ profanity or his marginalized brigadier Joseph Carr being described as the “model colonel?” What of the dispute between two Confederate battery commanders that almost led to a duel on July 2nd that was only averted because of the fighting in which both officers participated that afternoon? Dozens of monographs relay the mortal wounding of the 21-year old “Boy Colonel” Henry Burgwyn on the first day of battle, but what of 21-year old Colonel Edward Bailey who commanded the 2nd New Hampshire in the desperate fight for the Peach Orchard? As famous is the tragic story of John W. Culp, the Confederate soldier who ironically fought and died on the hill that bore his family’s name; far less known is the story of Henry Wentz, who unlimbered his cannon in the Peach Orchard mere feet from his boyhood home where his parents at that moment huddled in the basement. These fascinating anecdotes provided by Hessler and Isenberg bring the lives of the soldiers who fought at the Peach Orchard to life. The authors add their voices to the historiography that examines James Longstreet’s merits and mistakes. While critical of Longstreet’s poor communication that at times resulted in uncoordinated, sequential attacks, the authors refute accusations of Longstreet “sulking” by opining that “He was a professional soldier acting as he felt his military duty required…” The authors criticize many of Sickles’ actions, but they assert that the “theory that political aspirations motivated Sickles’s advance”

is “unsubstantiated.” They also point out that many of his subordinates and enlisted men avidly defended their corps commander’s actions in the postwar disputes. A possible shortcoming is that for a book that emphasizes the value of a particular piece of ground, relatively little is said about this ground itself. Besides comparing its height to nearby Little Round Top, few metrics of the ridge’s elevation are given—critical information when considering the area as an artillery platform as many officers deduced. Readers might also wonder about the foliage and vegetation of the Peach Orchard’s surrounding area; how the Peach Orchard contrasted with neighboring pastures, gardens, groves, and plowed fields is not discussed. For its ability to situate the reader within the historic and modern geography of the Peach Orchard, this book is especially useful for the battlefield visitor seeking a detailed work of the fighting there. Armchair readers will also benefit from its fascinating illumination of little-known accounts and personalities as well as its argument regarding the position as the “lynchpin” of Lee’s critical July 3rd decisions. Noah F. Crawford is a graduate student at Virginia Tech; he studies the experiences of refugees and the intersections of social history and military history in the Civil War’s Eastern Theater.

Slave, Soldier, Decent Man Carrying the Colors: The Life and Legacy of Medal of Honor Recipient Andrew Jackson Smith. By W. Robert Beckman and Sharon S. MacDonald. Illustrated, notes, appendix, bibliography, Westholme Publishing, 2020, 261 pp., cloth $28. Reviewed by Wayne L. Wolf

Born a slave in 1842, the property of Elias Smith, his white father, Andrew Jackson Smith escaped from slavery in January 1862 when he learned he was to be sent to the Confederate Army to work on fortifications. Successfully reaching the lines of the 41st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, he was hired as a servant by Dr. John Warner and traveled with him and the 41st to witness the action at Forts Henry and Donelson, as well as the Battle of Shiloh. He then returned to Clinton, Ill., to assist Dr. Warner who was recovering from an intestinal illness. This task accomplished, he left Clinton, traveled to Massachusetts, and joined the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Colored). From his enlistment until his discharge in 1865, he served in both the Quartermaster Department and with the Provost Marshal’s Office. The service for which he would eventually be awarded the Medal of Honor took place while he was stationed in the Sea Islands off South Carolina. Both at the Battle of Grimball’s Causeway, and the charge of the 55th at Honey Hill, where he carried the colors after the original color bearer was killed, exhibited the bravery required to earn the nation’s highest honor. Throughout his entire military career, he was never censured, served with valor and commitment, and was highly praised by his commanding officers. A paucity of paperwork would deny him the Medal of Honor for over six decades.

His remarkable story did not end upon his discharge. He returned to his native Kentucky and resumed farming, tobacco growing, raising livestock, buying and selling land. He also gave back to his community by donating land for a cemetery, helping to feed those in need, treating children to candy, and giving loans to those in need. This remarkable life story would have been lost if his papers had not lovingly been preserved by his daughters Geneva and Coruth. After years of keeping his life’s papers in a safe spot, they turned to Smith’s grandson Andy Bowman to gather all additional relevant documentation and begin haunting politicians with a demand for recognition of his grandfather’s service. Finally, with the help of two Illinois members of Congress, Thomas Ewing and Richard Durbin, he was successful in finally gaining the necessary legislation to permit President Clinton to award Andrew Jackson Smith the Congressional Medal of Honor in January 2001. This book is one of the best biographies of an individual USCT soldier to reach the market in recent memory. It is very readable, well documented, and hard to put down. It begs the reader to delve further into the history of the 55th Massachusetts. Two good books to achieve this goal would be Noah Andre Trudeau’s Voices of the 55th: Letters from the 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, 1861– 1865 and Burt Wilder’s The 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Colored. This book is highly recommended for any Civil War enthusiast, especially those with an interest in the contributions of black soldiers to the Union victory. Wayne L. Wolf is Professor Emeritus at South Suburban College, past President of the Lincoln-Davis CWRT, and author of numerous books and articles including Soldiers, Sailors and Scoundrels of the Civil War and The Last Confederate Scout.

A Wonderful Collection of Letters from the Iron Brigade Dear Delia: The Civil War Letters of Captain Henry F. Young, Seventh Wisconsin Infantry. Edited by Micheal J. Larson and John David Smith. Maps, photos, notes, index. 319 pp. University of Wisconsin Press, 2019. uwpress.wisc.edu. $29.95. Reviewed by Jonathan W. White

The Civil War correspondence of Capt. Henry F. Young of the Iron Brigade should be on the bookshelf of every reader interested in Civil War military history. Young’s letters offer a company-level officer’s perspective of the war from August 1861 to November 1864, including detailed accounts of his experiences at Second Manassas, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg. Young’s writing is lively and perceptive. Early in the war he described how the men of his regiment, the 7th Wisconsin, disliked their German colonel. “The trouble is he cant command americans,” wrote Young, because they could not understand his orders. “Then he gets mad as thunder and raves and belows like a mad bull; and abuses all the officers for not anticipating his damned dutch command.” Young quickly became hardened by combat. In September 1862, he wrote his wife that he “can go to sleep with a fight raging within a mile of me,” but he always had a tender word for his family and longed to be with them. “My dear little woman if I am so unfortunate as to fall my last thoughts will be of you and the dear ones,” he wrote in May 1864. One of the saddest moments in the book comes when he learns of his daughter’s death at the end of the war.

Throughout the war, Young expressed strong patriotic sentiments. “I am going to see this war through if I come out not worth the first damed red cent,” he wrote in November 1861. “I would rather spend the last drop of blood I have and let my wife and children have the free government of the united states to live in than to have our government and institutions broken up and be worth millions.” For Young, the war was about preserving the Union. “We are fighting for to crush out rebellion, not for the abolition of slavery,” he wrote in December 1861, but, he then added, “every man of common sence [sic] knows that as the army advance, the slaves of every Rebble [sic] will be set free.” When Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, Young admitted that “I dont know what effect [it] will have on the South. But there is one thing certain it is just what was wanted.” Nevertheless, he maintained a very negative view of African Americans, telling his wife that he would never command black soldiers “for reason they are the infernalist set of cowards in the world,” and, “The great majority of them would prefer to be slaves rather than fight for their liberty.” Young’s impressions of southerners are revealing. Upon entering the town of Falmouth, Va., in April 1862, he wrote, “Nearly every white woman was crying, for they all have friends in the Rebble [sic] army, and all the darkies were dancing for joy.” He resented southern Unionists, who, he said, “are union only while we are here. They are a cowardly sneeking [sic] set of Devils, that would submit to annything [sic] rather than fight” Throughout his letters Young expressed strong feelings about the Union’s political and military leaders. He wanted to serve under generals who would fight and he got frustrated by how frequently Union commanders were replaced. “They are eternally changing changing,” he complained. “They will displace a good officer that has been tried, for some political favourite that never seen a field of Battle. It is enough to make a man desert and damn the whole institution.” After Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, Young heard soldiers “swear they would never go into another fight, that they did not volunteer to fight for negroes.” Young never wavered in his support for Lincoln’s reelection in 1864, but his letters reveal how support among many Union soldiers was less stable. If Lincoln did not enforce the draft, Young wrote during the long, terrible summer of 1864, “Mc[Clellan] will get a large soldier vote.” More importantly, however, the Democrats’ decision to nominate a Peace Democrat for vice president “hurt the McClellan tickett [sic] with the soldiers.” Dear Delia is one of the finest collections of Civil War correspondence to appear in recent years. It is expertly edited and annotated, and the letters touch nearly every aspect of the soldier experience during the Civil War. Highly recommended. Jonathan W. White is associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and is the author or editor of ten books, including Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams during the Civil War (2017) and “Our Little Monitor”: The Greatest Invention of the Civil War (2018), co-authored with Anna Gibson Holloway. Visit his website at www.jonathanwhite. org or follow him on Twitter at @ CivilWarJon.

Well Crafted Historical Fiction Gettysburg: The Living And The Dead. By Kent Gramm. Photographs by Chris Heisey. Illustrated. Southern Illinois University Press, www.siupress. com. 225 pp., 2019, hardcover, $29.95. Reviewed by Jeffry D. Wert

Joshua Chamberlain believed that Civil War battlefields were vision-places of souls, where “the shadow of a mighty presence” abides. For those who visit and linger on a battlefield perhaps it is as Chamberlain stated while dedicating the 20th Maine’s monument at Gettysburg. Is there “a mighty presence” as one stands by the edge of the Cornfield at Antietam, in the Hornet’s Nest at Shiloh, on the crest of Snodgrass Hill at Chickamauga, or the bottom of the long slope at Malvern Hill? The answer likely lies within each of us, who come to these vision-places, walk across the hallowed ground, honoring those who fought there, and trying to understand it all. At its opening, this book quotes Chamberlain’s words, a wisely chosen prologue for what follows. In its pages the dead have been given voices in finely wrought prose and poetry. We hear from many who were there, unidentified but present, Yankee and Rebel alike. We hear from those who come later, who just visit or lead tours.

The book’s narrative is divided into four sections, one for each day of the battle and one for its aftermath. The author, Kent Gramm, Professor at Gettysburg College, further divides the work into 87 poems or pieces of prose, nearly all of which are one or two pages in length. The voices of the dead describe many events of the three-day engagement that are familiar to any serious student of Gettysburg. It seems that a soldier from nearly all the states present at the battle has been given a voice. The book is, however, a work of historical fiction. The poetry and the prose, stories and dialogues, have been crafted by the author. There is a historical basis for nearly all but, while the words seem to ring true, they are Dr. Gramm’s creation. Many passages are finely, if not beautifully, composed. Chris Heisey’s photographs, nearly all in color, grace these pages and add immeasurably to the book’s appeal. His and Dr. Gramm’s collaboration offers a sobering, even haunting, portrait of one of Chamberlain’s vision-places. In a way, this book is a memorial to those who fought there and the battlefield itself, and an anti-war, elegiac work. Unquestionably, this book is different from any recent study of our most written about battle. Perhaps, it conveys what many of us have felt as we walked through the Peach Orchard, stood beside the 20th Maine’s monument, looked at Iverson’s pits, or gazed across the ground from Cemetery Ridge toward the Virginia monument. It is recommended without reservation. Jeffry D. Wert, of Centre Hall, Pa., a longtime book reviewer for Civil War News, is the author of nine books on the Civil War, including Gettysburg-Day Three and Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart.

New Lincoln Book is a Pleasure to Read! Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington. By Ted Widmer. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, www. simonandschuster.com, 2020, ISBN 978-1-4767-3943-4, 618 pp. including endnotes, index, and map. Hardcover, $35. Reviewed by Meg Groeling

Something seemed familiar as the reading of Ted Widmer’s Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington began. Familiar, but in the best of ways, like talking with a friend. It took a while to figure out. Finally, the inside back cover provided the answer; Ted Widmer is one of the New York Times writers who created “Disunion” during the Civil War 150th. He is also a Distinguished Lecturer at New York’s City University and writes for The Washington Post, The New Yorker, as well as The Times. A voice like Widmer’s guarantees this new book is a pleasure to read. The author used close readings of Lincoln’s whistlestop speeches at towns along the presidential train trip from Springfield to Washington as well as newspaper articles to create the basis for his unique point of view: the Inaugural Express allowed president-elect Lincoln to tie the North together, readying the Union for the fight ahead. Widmer quotes George Nicolay: “As Mr. Lincoln’s journey progressed, his wisdom in making it one of public oration became apparent. His whole bearing, manner, and utterance carried conviction to all beholders that the man was of them as well as for them.” p. 435 Widmer builds a sturdy framework for his political musings. The inaugural journey has been the subject of many books, and even more conjecture. Once regarded as a complete fabrication, the Baltimore Plot to assassinate president-elect Lincoln as he changed trains in Baltimore, Md., has been proven to absolutely have existed. Pinkerton’s diary, as well as modern digital research, has turned up messages, t-mails, and other tasty allusions to the murder conspiracy. With the plot as a given, Widmer moves into an artistic weaving of modern politics with the Lincoln election of 1860. Lincoln’s speeches evolved as the inaugural train journey lengthened. At first, excepting his short statement in Springfield, Lincoln was unclear and vague as to how he and the Republican party were going to deal with secession, slavery, and a possible war. The news reporters brutally pointed out every error or hesitation. The speeches changed, however. By the time Lincoln reached Philadelphia on Washington’s Birthday, the president-elect had found his voice, and a magnificent one it was. An excellent retelling of small stories about the trip is part of Widmer’s book as well. The nearloss of the inaugural speech by Robert Lincoln, who may have been enjoying himself a little too much, thank you John Hay!), the foibles concerning an anxious Mrs. Lincoln, the careful plans that fell apart almost immediately, leaving a shortage of beds, food, and everything else; they are all there and more. Arms get broken, hair gets pulled, Lincoln cannot speak for a while. Against this chaos, Dorthea Dix, General Winfield Scott, Allen Pinkerton, two Sewards, and Samuel Felton collude with Norman Judd to upset a plot to end Lincoln’s presidency before it even begins. If the stakes had not been so high, the comedy might have outweighed the tragedy. However, the stakes were high and continued to be so until April 14, 1865. Ted Widmer writes this story with care, respect, and dignity. The quotes from John Hay and George Nicolay, scattered copiously throughout the book, give a definitive air of authenticity to Lincoln on the Verge. The Lincoln family made it safely to Washington due to the care of the group of supporters who saw to Lincoln’s secure arrival. Widmer manages to sprinkle a little Walt Whitman in, along with Homer, and a beautiful map on the endpapers. This reviewer was sorry it ended. Lincoln on the Verge deserves a wide readership, especially at this time in our history. Widmer began with the idea of a snapshot look at America, as well as Lincoln,

“on the verge” in February 1861. Somewhere along the line his point of view changed. According to a short conversation with the author, “I went somewhere deep as I thought about all of these things, I stopped being a ‘historian’ and became something more like a documentary filmmaker.” The snapshot took on many different dimensions. As Widmer finished his book, the current political scene took a change in focus. America of today and the past have developed many similarities. They also share some of the same stresses. “I didn’t know our politics would be so bad when I started it, but somehow, it does feel as if Lincoln might be able to help us get better again.” Covid-19 has impacted writers, historians, museums, and booksellers, among others. Many have lost speaking engagements. Tours, conferences, and other events have been canceled. Timely promotional efforts for upcoming books are almost impossible to plan. New publication opportunities may be postponed or even canceled. Please take advantage of the opportunity to purchase and read Ted Widmer’s Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington while it is new. Then talk about it and share this book with friends and coworkers. Everyone reading this is affected by changes in publishing. Support the authors and historians you enjoy and take a little time to explore new ones. Verge is a great place to start. Meg Groeling received her Master’s Degree in Military History, with a Civil War emphasis, in 2016, from American Public University. Savas Beatie published her first book, The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead, in the fall of 2015. Her biography, First Fallen: The Life of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, the North’s First Civil War Hero. It will be published by Savas Beatie in 2020. She is a book reviewer for LSU, Civil War News, and a regular contributor to the blog Emerging Civil War. She lives in Hollister, Calif., in a 1928 bungalow with her husband, her cats, and a lot of books and roses.

“The Despot’s Heel is on thy Shore!” Anaconda’s Tail—The Civil War on the Potomac Frontier, 1861–1865. By Donald G. Shomette. Illustrated, Notes, Bibliography, Index, Millstone Publishing, Dunkirk, Md., 2019, 767 pp., softcover. $45. Reviewed by L. E. Babits

Don Shomette, an author with numerous Chesapeake and Maryland historical and archaeological books to his credit, has taken on the little known story of how Southern Maryland was turned into a militarized zone, the Potomac River shores into a frontier, and Confederate sympathies crushed under a Federal occupation. There have been virtually no adequately researched studies of Civil War activity and its impact on Southern Maryland. Across the Potomac, Virginia’s Northern Neck also lacks a detailed examination yet the two areas were closely linked by water and trade. Anaconda’s Tail is a study of the Civil War from a new angle; as one example, the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) does not appear in the index, because the war effort in Southern Maryland was another thing entirely. The winner of the Bancroft Prize, Anaconda’s Tail is THE text for those who think they know nearly everything about the War. Military activity was certainly present, well over a brigade of Union soldiers literally occupied the region; four regiments of US Colored Troops, the 7th, 9th, 19th, and 30th were raised and trained at Camp Stanton, near Benedict, the largest training base for black troops in the state. There were raids and ambushes as Union troops attempted to eradicate networks moving information and supplies to the Confederacy and intimidate those with any tinge of Southern sympathy. There were repeated naval bombardments of Virginia’s Northern Neck from the Potomac River, especially when the U.S. Navy tried to break the Confederate blockade against vessels going up to the District of Columbia. Anaconda’s Tail was originally intended to be a two volume study but publishing demands reduced it to one without many illustrations and maps that would be helpful. The text seems, in fact is, compressed to tell a border state’s story that, to most, if they ever think about it at all, relates only to John Wilkes Booth. Even then, most folk don’t understand how the Union pursuit knew where to go and who to intimidate for information. They knew because they had been there almost four years conducting an unsuccessful counterinsurgency operation less than 20 miles from the District of Columbia. Like the other Border States, Maryland was a zone of intrigue and smuggling. Southern Maryland played a significant, although overlooked, role in the Civil War. The peninsula, especially the Potomac shore, thrived on it, even as late as 1865. Basically surrounded on three sides by navigable water, it had ways in and out that dictated combined operations, and generated over almost three pages of vessel names in the index. It had dual existences for everything from the 44-vessel Potomac Flotilla’s naval operations and amphibious assaults, to clandestine signal stations, regular mail routes with post offices, and military supplies. Each side existed unto itself but constantly cross linked with the other as life along the Potomac went on. Just the Potomac River crossing activity, the people and watercraft involved, and the Union’s efforts to interdict it, make this book worth reading. It might encourage people to wonder, and perhaps understand, why Surrattsville, named for the post office where Mary Surratts’ husband handled both Union and Confederate mail, had a name change to Clinton, but the elementary, middle, and high schools are still named Surrattsville. The occupation’s impacts linger even today. Larry Babits lived in Southern Maryland, then went to the University of Maryland and Brown University before becoming a professional archaeologist working on sites ranging from prehistoric to WW II. Now retired, he writes, consults, and also shoots black powder competitively.

At the start of David Welker’s stunning new title on the battle of Antietam, Generals Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan plant the seeds of a campaign that moves the fighting to Northern territory. It was the culmination of Lee’s goal to change the map of the eastern theater with hopes of winning the war, threatening Washington, D.C., convincing the United States population to turn away from preserving the Union, and gaining foreign intervention or recognition by England or France. The Battle of Antietam, also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, occurred on Sept. 17, 1862, along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Md. In the end, this fight was America’s single bloodiest day when 22,000 soldiers became casualties. The battle’s outcome would be vital to shaping America’s future. Welker is one of the most readable of historians. With his latest book, “The Cornfield,” he tells the story about one of several turning points in the Civil War. Considered an important moment in the conflict, the author shows how Lee’s first invasion of the North changed the impetus of the war, since prior to September 1862, the Confederacy had lost several naval and military battles in the Western Theater to Union forces. A Southern victory in the east might lead to the end of hostilities and foreign recognition. However, the Union victory at Sharpsburg reversed a terrible deterioration in the confidence of Northern soldiers and citizens. Military historians consider the Battle of Antietam a tactical stalemate and a Union strategic victory. After the Army of Northern Virginia departed the battlefield and returned to Virginia, President Lincoln was able to finally release his Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. The end of slavery in the territory in rebellion became the second main reason for the Union fighting the Civil War against the Confederate States of America, weakened the South’s ability to win the war, and helped the Federal’s ability to ultimately win this important moment in U.S. history. One essential location in this important battle, Miller’s Cornfield, passed through both armies’ hands several times and led to many casualties. Union General “Fighting Joe” Hooker led three divisions to the Cornfield where they fought with ferocity with men from Lee’s elite forces, including Hood’s Texas Brigade and others to win the day. This small thirty-acre farmland saw many regiments on both sides confronting and counterattacking for many hours, until this land was filled with many dead bodies. This significant piece of land and the efforts of the Union army did not allow the Confederate army to achieve their goal of a significant victory but did stall McClellan’s overall plans. Welker has done excellent work in clarifying the scrambled story of the battle of Antietam and the fighting that took place in the Cornfield. McClellan’s many difficulties in directing this fight, the complicated contexts of Yankee and Southern plans, and in assessing the successes and failures of Lee and McClellan. He was able to weave the various threads of a back and forth fight for this contested ground in real time with numerous units fighting to gain ground during terrible carnage. Readers will gain a comprehensive and convincing understanding of what took place and will be yearning for more. The author’s analysis is often right on and groundbreaking. An important example is showing that after the Confederates determined to fight the battle, it was unable to seize the initiative and gain an advantage during the many counterattacks launched throughout this critical phase of the battle. The failure of Southern commanders such as Jackson,

A New Study on an important Civil War Battle’s Turning Point The Cornfield: Antietam’s Bloody Turning Point. By David A. Welker. Appendices, Bibliography, Endnotes, and Index, 384 pp., 2020. Casemate Publishers. www.casematepublishers.com. Cloth, $34.95. Reviewed by David Marshall

Longstreet, Hood, and others enabled Northern forces to regroup, attack over, leading to far too many lives lost, but in the end, a political victory. Welker makes the important observation that McClellan was unable to change his battle plan and failed to make changes as the fighting went on throughout September 17, 1862. Perhaps if the Union commander adapted to the fighting, then he would have been able to use a greater amount of his forces throughout the battlefield and won a decisive victory. This new text is lucid, lively, well written, and energetic, meticulously researched, the prose flows, and people will read from cover to cover without putting this exciting volume down. Welker’s scholarship provides an important contribution to the study of the battle of Antietam that complements an important body of work as well as enhances our understanding of the fighting in the Cornfield. It is a valuable addition to the genre. The author has woven a fascinating story that includes many firsthand accounts by officers and common soldiers not usually found in modern scholarship. The twenty maps and twenty illustrations greatly illuminate the tactics and the battle action for the reader. The author could have increased his coverage of the Confederate forces throughout this wonderful narrative and included many more pages on each phase and individual in his index. One of the best features of this narrative is Welker’s fabulous breakdown of both armies’ commanders decision making throughout. He mentions goals, successes, and failures by both commanding generals and other leading figures during this significant conflict which greatly helps make this an enlightening experience for scholars, students, and enthusiasts of the Civil War battles in the Eastern Theater. Highly recommended by this reviewer. David Marshall is a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for the past thirty-three years. A lifelong Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and more.

Timely New Biography of Confederate General John Bell Hood Texas Brigadier to the Fall of Atlanta: John Bell Hood. By Stephen Davis. Maps, bibliography, index, 514 pp., 2019. Mercer University Press, www.mupress. org., hardcover, $35. Reviewed by C. Michael Harrington

Among the eight men who attained the rank of full general in the Confederate army, John Bell Hood’s ascension to that rank was the most improbable. Hood was barely 33 when commissioned a full general, making him the youngest such officer in a group of predominantly middle-aged or older men. Hood alone advanced upward through the ranks from lieutenant to full general. The fact that Hood lost a leg during the war at Chickamauga and the use of his left arm at Gettysburg in 1863 makes his promotion to full general the following year all the more remarkable. Steve Davis’ superb new book is the first of a planned two-volume biography of General Hood.

Too Useful to Sacrifice: Reconsidering George B. McClellan’s Generalship in the Maryland Campaign from South Mountain to Antietam. By Steven R. Stotelmyer. Photos, notes, index, 272 pp., 2019. Savas Beatie, www.savasbeatie. com, hardcover. $32.95. Reviewed by Brian Matthew Jordan It’s a good time to be a controversial Civil War general. In recent years, historians have plied readers with reappraisals of Braxton Bragg, John Bell Hood, Roswell Ripley, and George Gordon Meade. George B. McClellan has been the beneficiary of several fresh takes over the years, but the publication of this daringly revisionist study

As the first full-length biography of the general in nearly 40 years, Davis’ study benefits from the recent discovery and publication of a trove of the general’s previously unknown private papers. Born in Kentucky in 1831, Hood pulled political strings to win an appointment to West Point. An undistinguished academic record at the Military Academy resulted in Hood’s commission into the infantry at graduation. Stationed at an isolated fort in California, Hood longed for the greater excitement he perceived in the cavalry. Political influence also may have been a factor in Hood’s obtaining a transfer in 1855 to the newly formed 2 US Cavalry, a posting that brought Hood to Texas for the first time. Over the next five years, Hood chased Comanches across Texas, but seldom found them. As uneventful as his service in Texas was, it would prove pivotal in his future. When war came in 1861 and Hood’s native Kentucky remained in the Union, Hood’s service in the Lone Star State gave him a second identity as a Texan. Thin as his claim to Texan status was, it was sufficient to secure his promotion in Sept. 1861 to colonel of the 4 Texas Inf. Regt., one of the three Texas infantry regiments brigaded together in Virginia that, with the 3rd Arkansas, came to be called the “Texas Brigade.” When command of the Texas Brigade became vacant early in 1862, Hood’s ties to Texas let him leapfrog a senior colonel with no such ties and take command of the brigade. The heroics of the Texas Brigade at Gaines Mill during the

Seven Days, Second Manassas, and Sharpsburg in 1862 and the next year at Gettysburg and Chickamauga reflected well on Hood’s generalship and, to some extent, propelled him to ever higher command. Davis devotes the great bulk of his book to Hood’s service in the Army of Tennessee, beginning with his assumption of corps command in Feb. 1864 and ending with the fall of Atlanta in early Sept. The author of four books on the Atlanta Campaign, Davis’ encyclopedic knowledge of the subject shows through in his account of this phase of Hood’s military career. As a corps commander during the retreat of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s army from Dalton to Atlanta in the spring and early summer of 1864, Hood performed creditably in the field. Johnston called upon Hood to execute key assignments during this retrograde movement, and consulted closely with Hood in his tactical planning. Less to his credit, Hood corresponded clandestinely with Richmond in a transparent attempt to undermine confidence in Johnston and to position himself as Johnston’s successor. Davis is unequivocal that Hood’s intrigue with Richmond, as unprofessional as it was, did not result in Johnston’s removal from command on July 17, 1864. Jefferson Davis removed the Army of Tennessee commander only after Johnston failed repeatedly to assure the president that he would not abandon Atlanta without a fight. As for Hood’s appointment as Johnston’s successor, Davis presents it as something of a fait accompli: there was simply no better alternative to Hood. As everybody who has seen the movie Gone With the Wind knows, Atlanta eventually fell to Sherman, notwithstanding the change in Confederate command. It was not without a fight on Hood’s part, however. Shortly after taking command on July 18, Hood did what his government had asked by launching three offensive strikes. Despite being repulsed, Hood slowed Sherman’s advance. During August Hood’s cavalry defeated three separate Yankee advances against his rail lines. When Sherman finally succeeded in maneuvering Hood out of Atlanta, he did so by cutting Hood’s last railroad supply artery after stretching the Southern defensive lines beyond their ability to fend off Union attacks. Davis assesses Hood’s performance favorably despite failing to hold Atlanta, an outcome he views as “inevitable after Joseph E. Johnston crossed the Chattahoochee River.” Hood ultimately gave way, Davis asserts, only under the weight of Sherman’s superior numbers. Davis writes well. His text is also exceptionally well edited, with a minimum of distracting typos or factual errors. The book features more than two dozen maps. Each map occupies a full page and, with few exceptions, is easily readable without resort to a magnifying glass. My (mild) criticism is that the maps are bunched together in the middle of the book, instead of being dispersed throughout the book near the accounts of the particular battles or marches they

Getting right with Little Mac suggests that the work is not yet finished. In Too Useful to Sacrifice, author Steven R. Stotelmyer, a founding member of the Central Maryland Heritage League and longtime South Mountain and Antietam battlefield guide, draws on his intimate knowledge of the campaign and its landscapes. His scholarship also builds on the pioneering work of Joseph Harsh, whose untimely death prevented him from producing a Union counterpart for Taken at the Flood, his classic treatment of Confederate strategy in the Maryland Campaign. Stotelmyer’s long-awaited book is really a collection of five essays assessing McClellan’s generalship during the 1862 Maryland Campaign. Each essay can stand alone, but they are perhaps best consumed together. Collectively, they render a portrait of an embattled Union general: one forced to confront not just an invading rebel enemy, but also supply woes, sniping subordinates, and the machinations of determined political enemies in Washington. The first chapter considers McClellan’s response to finding the Lost Orders. In a field near Frederick, Md., on Sept. 13, 1862, a party of Union soldiers discovered a stray copy of Confederate Special Orders No. 191 wrapped around three cigars. Generations of historians have reliably scolded McClellan for failing to act on this extraordinary find. Instead of acting with alacrity, they contend that McClellan tarried for eighteen hours, squandering a choice opportunity to destroy Lee’s army. Stotelmyer counters these claims with some welcome context. First, the discovery of the Lost Orders was hardly exceptional. “McClellan’s ‘singular’

depict. Davis’s text is heavily footnoted, attesting to the prodigious research the author put into the book. Davis packs a good deal of collateral as well as bibliographic information into many footnotes. In one footnote, for instance, Davis ridicules the persistent but baseless accusation that Hood self-medicated his wounds with the opiate laudanum to the point of his actual addiction to the drug. While on the subject of footnotes, kudos to Mercer University Press for setting the text in easyto-read double spaced type, and for including the notes at the foot of the pages instead of parking them in the back of the book, thus sparing diligent readers the chore of flipping back and forth between text and end notes. A photo or two of Hood, however, would have been a nice addition to the book. This book should appeal to a broad range of Civil War enthusiasts, particularly those with an interest in the Atlanta Campaign, the Texas Brigade, or Hood himself. If Davis’ second volume of his biography of Hood is up to the high standards he has set in his first, it will be another worthy addition to Civil War historiography. This reviewer can hardly wait to reread it. C. Michael Harrington is a retired lawyer, resident in Houston. He’s authored several published articles on South Carolina soldiers, and he’s lectured to Civil War organizations in Houston on multiple topics, including Yale’s Confederate alumni and South Carolinians in the war. He’s president of the Houston CWRT.

find,” he writes, “was in reality the fifth such incident” in less than a month (26). Second, McClellan was already moving “as rapidly as he could to engage Lee’s army” (44). McClellan faced not insignificant logistical obstacles, especially as his columns moved through the knotted streets of Frederick. It is also worth mentioning that McClellan mined “little new information” from the orders (30). The author concludes that the discovery of the Lost Orders was neither a missed opportunity nor a turning point in the campaign. The next essay considers the fierce combat that erupted in the gaps of South Mountain on Sept. 14, 1862.